Crime/drama Lying & Stealing has Emily Ratajkowski as an aspiring Hollywood actress with debts, and Theo James as a gifted art thief who wants out of the game. To get straight to the point, I neither love nor hate Lying & Stealing. I was drawn to it mainly because I like the two lead actors.

The premise of Lying & Stealing is nothing new and this is part of the reason the movie isn’t especially notable. What I did like right away about director Matt Aselton’s film is the Yiddish proverb shown at the very beginning: ‘When a thief kisses you, count your teeth’. The second highlight for me is the scene with the bloody nose in the car towards the end – because it’s satisfying and nicely executed. Everything else in-between simply wasn’t bad enough for me to stop watching. In fact, the film seemed to become that little bit more engaging as the conflicts the protagonists were facing got closer to a resolution.

As for the parts of Aselton’s movie that stood out in a bad way, that would be the camera work at the very start of the opening party scene; ‘Unnecessarily dizzying’ is the phrase. So much so that I literally had to shield my eyes. Then there’s the movie’s single sex scene which had me convinced that the filmmakers must have been thinking something along the lines of: ‘OK guys. We have two incredibly attractive people here. It would be madness to miss out on featuring them in at least one intimate scene – even if it is gratuitous. Theo, Emily, let’s get to work!‘

Last and not necessarily least, the hue of the red wine in the movie. Is it me or was that particular hue of red especially unconvincing? I confess that I actually don’t drink alcohol, so maybe I shouldn’t be the one to comment – but still!

Watch Lying & Stealing, only if you really must.

Happy Film Loving,

G